Chasing William Copland

The Queen City Malting Co and East Toronto Brewery

I came across a reference to William Copland junior, in the 1856 Brown’s Toronto General Directory. He’s listed under the East Toronto Brewery, on the south side of King-street east between Berkeley and Princess Streets, where the Toronto Sun building now stands. There isn’t another mention of the brewery until it pops up in the 1885 Toronto directory under the name The Queen City Brewing and Malting Co., with a new address of 186-188 Front Street east. Despite different street addresses, it appears the two breweries inhabited the same space. That same year, we have a listing for Copland’s Brewing and Malting Co., at a new location, 55 Parliament Street, just around the corner at Parliament between Derby and Front street (Front was known as Palace street at the time). The brewery is also listed as The Toronto East Brewery, just to confuse matters! It seems that the Toronto East Brewery originally occupied the space on King Street and later moved to new(?) facilities around the corner on Parliament. The former home of the Toronto East Brewery is now 51 Division Police headquarters.